Franklin’s 14th Annual Harvest Moon Festival

The Franklin Merchants Association presents the 14th Annual Harvest Moon Festival. The festival will be held Saturday, October 5, 2013, from 9 am to 6 pm and will be complimented by the 4th Annual Tour du Teche.

Festivities will take place along Franklin’s Main Street and the Bayou Teche, which runs parallel to Main Street in the downtown historic district. There is no admission fee. The Harvest Moon Festival is a community-based downtown street festival celebrating the sugar cane harvest and the return of fall. Event’s for this year’s celebration include live entertainment, children’s activities, arts & crafts, a 5K run/walk, a classic car show and a BBQ cook-off.

The Miss Harvest Moon Festival Pageant will begin at 6:30 pm at the Teche Theatre for the Performing Arts, 501 Main Street, on Saturday, September 28th. Admission will be $5.00 per person. The pageant is sponsored by the City of Franklin, the Franklin Merchants Association and the St. Mary Parish Lions Club. For more information contact Pageant Director, Susan K. Thibodaux at 337-578-7854.

As part of the festival, Franklin’s downtown retail merchants will provide special sales and promotions to open the Christmas shopping season. Concession booths with local foods and arts & crafts will line the downtown area around the music stage. Vendor applications are due September 16, 2013. Contact Joan Adams at 337-578-1505 for additional information and/or an application.

Live entertainment, on the stage in the center of Main Street, will include 5 O’clock Shadeaux beginning at 10 am, followed by Steven Breaux and Friends at 1 pm and then the Mike Dean Band at 4 pm. After the bands from the Harvest Moon Festival end, Johnny Chauvin and Mojo will begin performing behind the Blevins building from 6 to 9 pm, for the Tour du Teche paddlers that will overnight in Franklin.

Children’s games and activities will be open to children age 12 and under and will include a spacewalk, bean bag tossing and pick a duck.

Teche Action Clinic will host its Adeline Guienze Breast Cancer Memorial Fund 5K Run/Walk. The 5K will begin at 8 am on Saturday, October 5th at the Courthouse Square. Contact Alfreida Edwards at 985-397-1096, Florence Beverly at 337-828-2550 ext. 2145 or Paulette Lofton at 337-828-2550 ext. 2104 for more information on the 5K.

The Classic Car and Motorcycle Show will take place on Main Street. Registration is $25.00 for those who register before September 25th. Late registration (September 26th to the day of the show) will be $30.00. The show will begin at 9 am and awards will be presented at 3 pm. There will also be a BBQ Cook-off. The entry fee is $100.00 for this Tasters’ Choice Competition. All competitors will need to attend a mandatory set-up and cooks’ rules meeting on October 4th for the competition to be held on October 5th. For more information contact Chief Chuck Bourgeois at 337-828-6328, 337-828-6329 or firechief821@franklin-la.com.

The St. Mary Chamber of Commerce will host the 2013 Harvest Moon Lamppost Decorating Contest. There is no entry fee, decorating begins on September 14th and judging will take place on October 1st. To register, contact the St. Mary Chamber of Commerce at 337-828-5608.

For more information about the Harvest Moon Festival, contact Joan Adams at 337-578-1505 or visit www.facebook.com/franklinharvestmoonfest.

Tour du Teche Slated October 4-6th, 2013

Tour du Teche is a 135 mile canoe/kayak/pirogue race through the heart of Louisiana’s Cajun Country and will take place this weekend on October 4th, 5th, and 6th. This race is entering its fourth year and is now organized by Executive Director Nicole Patin and Directors General Ray Pellerin and Ken Grissom. Partners include Cajun Coast Visitors and Convention Bureau, St. Mary Parish, St. Landry Tourist Commission, St. Martin Tourist Commission, and Iberia Parish Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Paddlers for this race will pass through four parishes, woods, swamps, cane fields, and a dozen of the friendliest communities around. The race will begin in Port Barre, Louisiana at the Port Barre Boat Launch and travel 135 miles down Bayou Teche where it will end in Berwick, Louisiana at the Southwest Reef Lighthouse on the Atchafalaya River.

Tour du Teche will have three racing stages: Stage 1: Gabriel, Port Barre to St. Martinville, 49 miles; Stage 2: Chitimacha, St. Martinville to Franklin, 59 miles; Stage 3: Roughneck, Franklin to Berwick, 27 miles. There will be shorter race routes, Voyageur divisions, open for participants such as: Crawfish, Port Barre to Breaux Bridge, 34 miles; Acadian, Port Barre to St. Martinville, 49 miles; Hot Sauce, St. Martinville to New Iberia; 24 miles; Sugar, St. Martinville to Franklin, 59 miles; and Oil & Gas, Franklin to Berwick, 27 miles.

Tour du Teche will overnight in St. Martinville on Friday, October 4th and in Franklin on Saturday, October 5th. Paddlers will be greeted at their stop in Franklin on October 5th with Franklin’s Annual Harvest Moon Festival featuring live music; a children’s carnival; teen activities; an antique, hot rod, classic car and motorcycle show, concessions and special retail promotions. The finish line, located in Berwick, will also have events awaiting paddlers on October 6th. Arts and Crafts vendors will open their booths at 11 am, along with jambalaya dinners. Musical entertainment will be by DJ Jason Rulf from 11 am to 2 pm and Gone Pecan from 2 to 5 pm. New additions to this year’s event will be a car show, a 50/50 raffle, door prizes, petting zoo and carnival style games. The arts and crafts show and the car show will have no booth or entry fee. Contact Misty Pillaro, at the Town of Berwick, at (985) 384-8858 for additional information on the arts and crafts show and car show.

Awards will take place at 1 pm and at 4 pm. The public is encouraged to come out to all the activities taking place in Franklin and in Berwick, to welcome paddlers and join in on the fun!For additional information contact Nicole Patin at (337) 394-6232, visit www.tourduteche.com for a registration packet, or email info@tourduteche.com. You can also contact the Cajun Coast Visitors & Convention Bureau at (800) 256-2931, visit their website at www.cajuncoast.com, or email info@cajuncoast.com for extra information.